Although safety helmets, particularly for motor sports such as motorcycling, snowmobile riding, automobile racing, etc., come in variety of styles and shapes, they can be generally categorized as a half-helmet, an open-face helmet, and a full-face helmet. The half-helmet typically rests on the top half of the rider""s head, usually above the ears, exposing the face and neck areas. The half-helmet generally does not have a face shield, but can sometimes include a sun visor that is either integral with or detachably mounted to the half-helmet. The open-face helmet is similar to the half-helmet, but covers the ears and the full back side of the head offering a greater degree of protection. The open-face helmet can include a face shield mounted to the helmet or in some cases a detachable sun visor as in the case of the half-helmet. The full-face helmet is similar to the open-face type, but provides an even greater degree of protection by the inclusion of a chin guard and a retractable face shield, such that the entire head and face is protected. A newer variation of the full-face helmet is the modular helmet. The modular helmet is essentially the same as full-face helmet, but the chin guardxe2x80x94to which the face shield is usually attachedxe2x80x94can be lifted to a raised position to facilitate putting the helmet on and taking the helmet off. For the purposes of this discussion, the modular helmet will be considered a full-face helmet.
As stated above, full-face helmets typically include a retractable face shield. The face shield, which protects the user""s eyes and the surrounding area, is typically detachably mounted, so that face shields of different shades and tints can be mounted to the full-face helmet. Depending on its tint and/or color, the face shield can also protect the eyes from sun glare to some degree. Typically, however, one is required to change the face shield according to the particular driving conditions. A clear face shield is needed at night, for example, while a tinted face shield may be preferred during the day to help with sun glare. Accordingly, a rider must carry more than one face shield at all times if the rider is to be properly prepared for a wide variety of driving conditions. The requirement for carrying multiple face shields is cumbersome, and sometimes leads riders to xe2x80x9cstretchxe2x80x9d the riding envelope by utilizing the wrong shield for a given driving situation instead of carrying multiple shields. Another disadvantage of the use of multiple face shields is that the face shields cannot be easily switched while riding, thereby making it impossible to quickly compensate for varying degrees of sun glare.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,101 issued to Chin discloses the use of a tinted auxiliary shield in an attempt to solve the disadvantages of the full-face helmet discussed above, wherein the tinted auxiliary shield slides up and down over the regular face shield. The auxiliary shield of Chin, however, can only provide a limited amount of glare protection, as the user is required to look through the auxiliary shield and the auxiliary shield does not extend from the face shield. In effect, the auxiliary shield of Chin allows for swapping between a clear shield and a tinted shield without removing the face shield, but cannot be made sufficiently opaque to deal with severe sun glare due to the requirement of the user must be able to look through auxiliary shield.
Being blinded by the sun or sun glare is potentially one of the most dangerous situations one can face in a motor sport. In full-face helmets, the face shield is usually sloped upward making it quite susceptible to the sun glare problem, particular in situations where the angle of the sun is such that the sun""s rays cause glare even if the rider is wearing sunglasses or using a tinted shield or auxiliary shield. A conventional sun visor cannot be attached to a full-face helmet, as it would interfere with the operation of the face shield. Accordingly, while full-face helmets provide the greatest degree of crash protection, they are also the most susceptible to the problem of sun glare. It would therefore be desirable to provide a sun visor that could be utilized with a full-face helmet or with other helmet types that cannot use a conventional sun visor due to interference with a face shield.
The present invention relates to a sun visor for a full-face helmet that uses a face shield and a safety helmet that incorporates the present sun visor.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is a sun visor for a safety helmet that uses a face shield. The sun visor includes a sun visor body and a mechanism for attaching the sun visor body to the face shield. Alternatively, the sun visor is formed integral with the face shield. In a preferred embodiment, the sun visor has a center section, a first wing section, and a second wing section. The first wing section extends from a first side of the center section and the second wing section extends from a second side of the center section, generally laterally opposite to the first side. The first wing section has a first mounting structure for mounting the first wing section to a first upper side of the face shield. The second wing section has a second mounting structure for mounting the second wing section to a second upper side of the face shield, laterally opposite to the first upper side of the face shield.
The sun visor can include at least one double-sided tape for fixedly mounting each of the first and second mounting structures to the face shield.
Alternatively, the sun visor can include at least one clip for mounting each of the right and left wing sections to the respective upper side of the face shield. The clip can have a plurality of supports that detachably hold the respective mounting structure. The clip can be mounted to the face shield with a double-sided tape or adhesive. Each clip can have a plate and the supports can comprise first, second, and third anchors extending from one side of the plate. The first anchor can be vertically spaced from the second and third anchors, and the second and third anchors can be horizontally spaced, with the first anchor positioned therebetween. Each of the first and second mounting structure can comprise a flange extending from the respective wing section for engaging the first, second, and third anchors.
The first and second wing sections can be curved and substantially complementary to a curvature of the face shield. At least the first and second wing sections can be flexible. The first and second wing sections can be angled offset in relation to the center section so that the center section is spaced from the face shield to allow air to flow between the face shield and the center section.
The sun visor can further include a visibility enhancing device, which can include at least one flashing LED.
Another aspect of the present invention is a safety helmet having a shell for encasing at least a portion of a head, a face shield mounted to the shell, and the above described sun visor mounted to the upper portion of the face shield. The safety helmet can have a full-face shell or an open-face shell.